BBC to Shutter Youth Channel BBC 3 in Cost Cutting Push

Channel to be re-positioned as online-only offering

LONDON — BBC chief Tony Hall is set to shutter the U.K. pubcaster’s youth-skewed channel BBC3 as a linear offering as part of a plan to save £100 million ($122 million) a year, according to BBC News.

BBC3’s specialty has been comedy shows like sitcom “Gavin and Stacey,” and U.S. animated shows like “Family Guy” and “American Dad.” The channel has operated for 11 years.

The network will preserve its upscale channel BBC4, which focuses on art and culture, the Guardian reported Wednesday.

U.K. writers, producers and actors active in comedy are already mounting an effort to save the channel.

“I don’t see why it should be cut because people who are younger have quieter voices in the political process,” comedian Russell Kane told BBC News. Kane hosts BBC3’s standup comedy show “Live at the Electric.”